SHARE PRICES AND MARKET ANALYSIS

A snapshot of bike and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 27 January 2023. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.

USA — YO-YO ECONOMICS

Another week featuring still no consistent direction for US equities. Data on health or otherwise of the US economy conflicted on a day-by-day basis and sentiment diverged on the global outlook. However, a consensus of opinion was that the pace of Federal Reserve interest rate increases would slow, reducing the risk of recession despite lingering concerns about inflation, so market indices reacted accordingly.

Wall Street’s blue-chip S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average posted respective 2.5% and 1.8% weekly gains. S&P’s MidCap 400 finished 2.4% up and the NASDAQ Composite climbed more firmly by 4.3%.

Both petrolhead and electric biker stocks were consistently positive — some of the latter mounting impressive advances — in anticipation of the annual corporate reporting season’s imminent arrival.

EUROPE — GERMANY CALLING

Revelations that the German economy had been much more resilient in the fourth quarter of 2022 than analysts had originally predicted were a welcome boost, despite European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde continuing downbeat base rate assessments for the next few months.

Market indices across the eurozone responded in line with a return to trading enthusiasm, led by automotives. Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax recovered to 0.8% positivity. Both BMW and VW Group shares were among the driving forces. Elsewhere, Milan’s FTSE MIB stacked on 2.6%, on expected muscular year-end reporting from Northern Italy’s gasoline alley. Scooter king Piaggio is a shaping up to be two-wheeled star of that show, having already added 25% in value since the new year’s advent.

KTM parent Pierer Mobility retreated slightly, bucking a 2.3% gain for Austria’s Wiener Börse ATX index. But this apparent reversal could easily be attributed to profit-taking, given a recent rapid escalation in value on the back of advance notice of strong 2022 performance.

JAPAN — BANKING ON BACKWARDS

Bank of Japan back-peddling on monetary policy aberrations was unabated. With less than three months before BoJ governor Haruhiko Kuroda is due to retire, it transpired that none of the leading candidates to replace him actually want the job.

Anyway, as recently disruptive BoJ market intervention crunched into reverse gear, sentiment soared and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index put on a healthy 3.1%. Motorcycle-related stocks went along for the ride. Suzuki stood out as an investment earner, having finally unveiled a comprehensive climate-change strategy.

On two wheels, its focus will be purely battery-electric in the mobility sector, Beginning with a mass-market ePTW launched in 2024, this will be the first of eight key models by 2030. For larger leisure-oriented motorcycles, the company is pursuing the possibilities of internal combustion continuity, based on burning carbon-neutral fuels. Good luck with that!

INDIA — MERCIFULLY MIXED MESSAGES

The previous week’s Reuters report flagging concerns about a global economic slowdown severely troubling Indian investors has obviously exacerbated their reluctance to play ball. Mumbai’s BSE Sensex 30 stock index sank by 2.1%. However, some indigenous biker stocks ignored depressing indicators with gusto, both leading exporter Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor basking in bullish Q3 results.

CHINA — COMMERCIAL FREEZE

Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations — officially a seven-day “Spring Festival” holiday — were in full swing. Business life was at a standstill, with factories closed for the duration, while roads and railways were clogged by hordes of people heading for annual reunions with their distant families. All stock market activity ceased and share prices were frozen. Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and the blue-chip CSI 300 therefore gathered dust.